Gun Control Is Subject of Wilson's vetoes, Boxer's ads

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, September 29, 1998

1998-09-29 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- With gun control emerging as a hot issue in this year's U.S. Senate race, Governor Pete Wilson vetoed bills yesterday to ban possession of certain semiautomatic weapons and prohibit the sale or manufacture of cheap handguns.

The Republican governor's reasons for rejecting the bills were similar to the arguments of the National Rifle Association in opposing the measures. Wilson contends taking criminals off the streets, not taking guns from lawful citizens, is the way to reduce violence.

Wilson's vetoes drew swift criticism from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, who called the bills "common-sense efforts to help prevent gun violence."

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Boxer, who has legislation before Congress to ban junk guns and require trigger locks, is using the issue of gun control in television ads airing this week that link her GOP opponent, Matt Fong, to the gun lobby.

Fong said the ads distort his position and insisted low-income persons should be able to buy cheap handguns.

"A lot of poor families can't afford a $400 weapon, but they can afford a $75 weapon," Fong told The Chronicle editorial board yesterday. "We can't let them be priced out of the market."

The angry back-and-forth between the senate candidates underscored the emotional power of the gun control debate as well as the stark differences between Republicans and Democrats on the issue.

Wilson made those differences clear when he vetoed the bill, which would have banned various semiautomatic shotguns, rifles and handguns based on their physical characteristics.

"By design or happenstance (this bill) is a maze which would entrap the unwary (and) generate endless litigation. California deserves better," Wilson said in his veto message.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Wilson's veto leaves California -- the first state to limit ownership of some semiautomatic weapons -- without an effective ban.

"It's a bitter disappointment after the Legislature passed a measure with bipartisan support," Perata said in a statement.

Perata's bill would have rewritten California's 1989 semiautomatic firearms law by replacing a specific list of banned firearms with a generic definition. The original is in legal limbo because of court challenges.

The GOP governor said that in some areas, the bill was not as strong as a federal law regulating ownership of semiautomatic weapons by physical characteristic.

Perata's bill -- supported by several law enforcement groups -- would have prohibited the sale, transfer or manufacture in California of magazines containing more than 19 bullets. Wilson sought limits on magazines of more than 20 bullets.

Federal law bans the manufacture or importation of magazines with more than 10 bullets but is silent on sale or transfer.

"We would have liked to have kept it at 10-bullet magazines, but we went up to 19 to try to accommodate the governor's desires," said Brian Malte, a Sacramento lobbyist for Handgun Control Inc.

Wilson also vetoed a bill by Senator Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, aimed at taking cheap handguns, sometimes known as Saturday night specials, off the market.

The bill would have banned the sale of handguns that do not meet safety standards set by federal law. For instance, firearms that fired when dropped from a height of 40 inches onto a concrete slab could not be sold. Nor could those that misfired in rapid-fire tests.

Transfers of such firearms between family members or other private parties were not covered by the bill.

"To those law-abiding citizens who must or who choose to own a firearm for personal or family protection, we do harm if we pass a law that prevents them from lawfully obtaining needed protection," Wilson wrote in his veto message.

Boxer made cheap handguns and so-called assault weapons the focus of her TV ads that began airing yesterday across California.

The 30-second spot is anything but subtle. As pictures of guns appear on the screen, an announcer solemnly intones "This is a Saturday night special. It's the favorite gun of street criminals. This is an assault weapon. It's the favorite gun of drug dealers."

A photograph of Fong follows. "This is Matt Fong," the announcer says. "He's the gun lobby's favorite candidate for Senate."

At The Chronicle editorial board, Fong agreed that unsafe weapons should be banned, regardless of price, but questioned whether an inexpensive weapon is an unsafe one.

He also criticized Boxer for emphasizing gun control rather than harsher sentencing as the key to cutting crime.

"The answer's not gun control," he said. "It's measures like three strikes . . . which provide penalties that greatly increase the punishment for people who use guns on the street."

Fong also came out against Boxer's attempt to require the use of gun locks. While gun locks are important and he uses them himself, Fong said, requiring them "makes government too intrusive."

Wilson vetoed a third gun bill that would have required gun sellers to offer trigger locks or other safety devices to gun purchasers. Wilson said he objected to the bill not so much for what it sought to do but for what it would not have done. The bill did not prevent cities and counties from imposing even stricter requirements on the sale of gun safety devices.

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